Born in Gien (Loiret) on December 2, 1919. Died on July 14, 1993.
Education and professional career
- 1947: Diploma in Chinese from the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes, Paris
- Trainee at the Centre de Formation à la Recherche en Ethnologie, Musée de l'Homme, Paris
- Licence ès Lettres (Ethnology, Chinese Civilization, Sociology, History of Colonization), Sorbonne
- 1947-1964: Trainee, attaché, research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (French National Center for Scientific Research)
- 1961-1964: Lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études – VIe section (Formation à la Recherche en Anthropologie)
- 1964-1978: Director of Studies at the same École (VIe section)
- 1967: Doctor of Letters, summa cum laude, Paris
- 1967-1968: Lecturer at the Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines (Nanterre)
- 1969: Visiting professor at Université de Montréal
- 1971-1975: Member of the Commission "Ethnologie, Anthropologie, Préhistoire", CNRS
- 1975-1983: Responsible for training in ethnology (IIIrd cycle), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
- 1971-1972: Head of the "Atlas" team at the Centre de Documentation et de Recherches sur l'Asie du Sud-Est et le Monde Insulindien (LA 183, CNRS-EHESS)
- Co-editor of Journal d'Agriculture Traditionnelle et de Botanique Appliquée
- 1977: Member of the Technical Commission "Anthropologie" at the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (French Overseas Scientific and Technical Research Agency)
- 1979: Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Sociography of Southeast Asia
- Collège de France representative on the French Ministry of Culture's Ethnological Heritage Council
